Garmin 550 w/tt25 collar

Roy B

Roy B

Active member
Has anyone using this combo had any issues with accuracy? It seems to struggle even after a calibration with finding Maggs.
I'm just wondering if I should turn the handheld and collar off between spots, I already shut off the handheld 90% of the time but most of the time I leave the collar on.
Also I'm wondering if having it hanging upside down on a lanyard causes it to lose accuracy.
Is there anything I can do or should be doing different?
 
I have a 550+ with a pair of TT25 collars.

I was having issues in SD before Christmas, dogs in aluminum box. Drive 15 miles to hunt and it showing collar is still back in town.

Then I would turn handheld off and collars off and reboot and recalibrate handheld and then it would start working. No clue what I actually needed to do. Likely only one of them at fault.

Then I thought it was off by 15 degrees or so. Seemed like dogs were always off that far, but distance was correct.

Just got back from Texas and everything seems to be correct now. So who knows.

I did change refresh rate to 2.5 seconds to increase accuracy at expense of battery life.

I’m so frustrated by it, UPS just pulled up with a 3rd collar for me.

I doubt I ever hunt without GPS again.

I have reached out to Garmin tech support and they have been good to deal with, so might call them for your issue.
 
cheesy said:
I have a 550+ with a pair of TT25 collars.

I was having issues in SD before Christmas, dogs in aluminum box. Drive 15 miles to hunt and it showing collar is still back in town.

Then I would turn handheld off and collars off and reboot and recalibrate handheld and then it would start working. No clue what I actually needed to do. Likely only one of them at fault.

Then I thought it was off by 15 degrees or so. Seemed like dogs were always off that far, but distance was correct.

Just got back from Texas and everything seems to be correct now. So who knows.

I did change refresh rate to 2.5 seconds to increase accuracy at expense of battery life.

I’m so frustrated by it, UPS just pulled up with a 3rd collar for me.

I doubt I ever hunt without GPS again.

I have reached out to Garmin tech support and they have been good to deal with, so might call them for your issue.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your experience with this issue. I have thought about calling Garmin but haven't yet because I keep thinking it will work itself out if I keep trying different things. I have also kept up on updates so I don't believe that is a problem. It seems to get better the longer we are out hunting and moving but there are also times it doesn't. It's really frustrating at times and I wish there was a quick fix or something to make it work correctly all the time.
 
I remember seeing Steve Snell talking about that issue when moving between places. If you search him on Facebook or instagram or probably even YouTube he has a bunch of pertaining to collars and gps units, But here is a link to that particular video.

www.facebook.com

172 reactions · 58 comments | Do you leave your GPS collars on your dogs while they are in the dog box? #gundogsupply #garminpro550plus #garminalpha | Steve Snell

Do you leave your GPS collars on your dogs while they are in the dog box? #gundogsupply #garminpro550plus #garminalpha
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
 
Re-reading your post and looking at the video linked to from Steve Snell, it has me asking the question “what is it specifically doing when it can’t find Maggs?”
 
It is basically looking for north and pointing at times a complete 180 from where she is at. It is acting totally confused on both things.
 
I’m new to gps so I don’t really know. But the dogtra unit I bought likes to recalibrate too often. They asked for a review so I reviewed it and mentioned that , part of their response was that proximity to or touching metal can throw off the compass in the handheld. That’s not what’s throwing mine off but I do know that the one time I layed mine on the tailgate it wanted to recalibrate before I ever even got in the field.
 
Roy B said:
It is basically looking for north and pointing at times a complete 180 from where she is at. It is acting totally confused on both things.
Click to expand...
If you are just using one collar with the 550 link it to one of the other collar settings and compare.. that sounds like a calibration issue. A new link may fix it
 
i"ve been fighting accuracy issues from the start. i turn on the handheld, then one of the two collars at a time, then lay them in the yard away from any obstructions, within a foot of each other. generally one collars will say 25 to 30 feet in the wrong direction, and the other 15 to 25 feet in the wrong direction. yes, i've recallibrated many times. in the field its usually close enough to find a setter on point in CRP, but i have had issues last year and this year walking past the dog. lately one collar will indicate on point when the dog is not, for long periods. i think the system (550 + and tt 25) are a great idea, but its obvious non hunters designed them. the on button is hard to push and know its on, the start up delay is annoying. at least 5 times this year i've shut everything down, then walked by the handheld the next day and notice its still on. yes, i'm old, but not that old. the buttons and toggles are not where i would put them, and not cold weather glove friendly . the screen is small but adequate for distance and direction arrow, but i can't read the ft - yards without reading glasses. thats an issue with central kansas CRP this year. the charging plug-port for the handheld is different than the collars. the tt15 and tt25 don't use the same charging clips.

overall, its the best thing going, but people that smart could and should do better. i have politely bent the ear of every customer service tech on the phone, and the salesmen at quail fest, and am met with silence and that please leave me alone attitude. they really should do an upgrade.
 
Quailnerd said:
If you are just using one collar with the 550 link it to one of the other collar settings and compare.. that sounds like a calibration issue. A new link may fix it
Click to expand...
I will try that for sure, never even gave that a thought but it is worth a try.
 
lonejackfool said:
i"ve been fighting accuracy issues from the start. i turn on the handheld, then one of the two collars at a time, then lay them in the yard away from any obstructions, within a foot of each other. generally one collars will say 25 to 30 feet in the wrong direction, and the other 15 to 25 feet in the wrong direction. yes, i've recallibrated many times. in the field its usually close enough to find a setter on point in CRP, but i have had issues last year and this year walking past the dog. lately one collar will indicate on point when the dog is not, for long periods. i think the system (550 + and tt 25) are a great idea, but its obvious non hunters designed them. the on button is hard to push and know its on, the start up delay is annoying. at least 5 times this year i've shut everything down, then walked by the handheld the next day and notice its still on. yes, i'm old, but not that old. the buttons and toggles are not where i would put them, and not cold weather glove friendly . the screen is small but adequate for distance and direction arrow, but i can't read the ft - yards without reading glasses. thats an issue with central kansas CRP this year. the charging plug-port for the handheld is different than the collars. the tt15 and tt25 don't use the same charging clips.

overall, its the best thing going, but people that smart could and should do better. i have politely bent the ear of every customer service tech on the phone, and the salesmen at quail fest, and am met with silence and that please leave me alone attitude. they really should do an upgrade.
Click to expand...
I'm not going to say I'm glad to see your having issues too but it is nice to know I'm not alone on these issues. I will be at pheasant fest and you can bet I will be talking to Garmin reps about the issues I'm having with mine and I agree that they should be able to design something better but at the very least the one they are selling should work better then mine has and from the sounds of it a few others as well.
 
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